“These findings suggest increasing sleep duration could offer a simple approach to reducing levels of body fat and Type 2 diabetes risk from early life,” professor Christopher Owen, who led the research at St George’s, University of London, said in a statement.

“Potential benefits associated with increased sleep in childhood may have implications for health in adulthood,” Owen said.

The researchers did not find an association between sleep duration and cardiovascular risk factors, including blood lipids and blood pressure.

This lack suggests “sleep duration does not alter other cardiovascular risk in early life, other than by increased obesity and metabolic risks which, if sustained or accentuated, take time to accelerate cardiovascular risks”, the researchers wrote.